Pupils head south for rare chance to test their skills on Olympic velodrome

CYCLING: A chance to race on the Olympic velodrome in London is the exciting prospect awaiting the eight Scots selected for the Sainsbury’s UK School Games from 6-9 May.

“It’s going to be a great experience for the youngsters and they will be the last people to ride on the velodrome before the Olympic Games,” said Scottish coach Peter Clark.

“But it is going to be very tough to get close to the medals. They are going to be up against a hard lot of rivals.”

The selected eight will compete in road races, time trials and in the velodrome and they have all shown real dedication to get to this stage.

“The parents have been taking them down to the velodrome in Manchester almost on a weekly basis,” added Clark. “It will be a huge boon when the new velodrome opens in Glasgow in October.”

Thanks to Sir Chris Hoy, among others, cycling now has a high profile throughout Britain and is bound to be a huge attraction at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. “Sir Chris has been a great support to the Scottish youngsters, although he has been in an Olympic bubble for about the past 12 months,” added Clark.

Hoy attended George Watson’s College in Edinburgh – and Emma Borthwick is continuing the tradition as part of the line-up at the UK School Games.